The Importance of Variety

No, not the magazine. I mean variety in food.

As a PA, food will unfortunately take up quite a bit of your brainspace. It can be frustrating, because you didn’t go to film school to become a caterer, right?

Often times, this means you’ll go into auto-pilot when it comes to crafty, second meal, or what have you. This is why an entire fridge gets stocked with Coke, Diet Coke, and water, or of the fifteen pizzas by crafty, ten are pepperoni, four are cheese, and one is veggie.

It’s because these flavors are standard. Pretty much anybody will take a slice of one of those pizzas, or grab one of those sodas. But the thing is, they’re not anybody’s favorites—

See, people like different things. (I know that’s obvious, but sometimes obvious things need to be stated.) So why not get different things?

If you’re ordering fifteen pizzas, sure, get three pepperonis. But also get Hawaiian, bacon,{{1}} barbecue, veggie, supreme, and on and on. They will all get eaten, I promise, and odds are, one of those is someone’s favorite.

Same with the soda; if you’re only getting a couple twelve packs, start with Coke and Diet Coke. But if you’re stocking up for the whole office for the season, throw in some Cherry Coke or cream soda or ginger ale. Give people some options.

This principle applies to any kind of crafty or snacks, from fruit to candy, too. You’ll learn pretty quickly which flavors people like, and which will sit on the shelf for 22 episodes.

Like oatmeal raisin cookies. Nobody fucking likes oatmeal raisin.

[[1]]I swear to Christ, every time I suggest ordering bacon, people look at me like I have three heads, and every time, it’s the first pizza that’s gone.[[1]]